The times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1882-1897, 1887-02-25


LIsHED BY VOTE OF THE MEMBERS OF
THE INSTITUTE.
AS have been considering the ndvan-
tages of this Institute TO the people of our
county. have been constantly reminded
of the work by which an entertainment
such as this bids fair TO be, has been made
possible. A fair share Of the credit for
bringing our agriculture up to its present
standard must, Of course, bc conceded to
the people now engaged in the work and
TO those who have made recent efforts,
but the first praise belongs TO the men and
women who laid its foundation-to our
pioneer farmers.
We arc 80 proud of Michigan, proud of
her agriculture, OF her rapid advance
ment and of her financial standing; but do
we mot ascribe to later circumstances too
much of the credit of our States present
standard and almost forget the first rough
work that paved the way for all the rest?
We too easily fall into the habit of looking
| only at results and quite ignoring the slow
| beginning necessary to all great achieve
rnents.
| From history and observation VIC learn
that every well established industry is due
to years of human endeavor and owes as
much to the founder as to those who per-
| petuate it; and the conclusion at which we
arrived is, that the present excellence of
the Industry under discussion is quite as
much due TO the men who split rails for
the first fences as to those who have in
vented the best methods for growing opa.
mental hedges; and the question to DC
considered is, whether we show proper
recognition of the fact don't think we
do in Sbiawassee county. Very little in.
tercst We take in the pioneers, here.
The young farmer OF to-day takes the
farm which he is fortunate enough to re-
ceive by gift or purchase, but he is not SO
very glad 10 get it, nor does lac think life
on that farm so very desirable, but seldom
does he think of the dead and gone farmer
who cleared his farm, or of the enormous
amount of hard labor he expended upon
il. Why, it has been estimated that ii
takes working lifetime to get farm
into first-class state of cultivation.
The contrast between the past and pres.
ent, between the lives of farmers of forty
years ago and those of the farmers of to-
day, has been too often drawn, is indeed
too old q story to be referred TO now, but
the fact still remains that sacrifices were
made in those days by which we are di
rectly or indirectly benefited now, and
want to speak particularly to the younger
members of the audience-to those of my
own gencration-about what aoe owe to
the pioneers. They have undoubtedly done
much for us and we owe it to them and to
ourselves to manifest our gratitude, the
one commodity in which the debt can be
cancelled.
Young people seldom attend the meet.
ings of pioneers, and when they do, listen
inattentively, or not Mt all to the reminls.
cences of Michigan's childhood. Yes,
am ashamed 10 acknowledge that pio
neer's story or his style of relating it is
sometimes even ridiculcd. AS for myself,
l have always been, perforce, inspired
with feeling of deep respect for pioneers,
for they present to me so forcibly the use
lessness of living generation or two be-
hind their time. They tell me that 1 can
never understand what hardships are, that
never had to spin and weave the cloth for
my own dresses, that never lived IN a
log house or walked two miles through
the woods to school as children in their
day did, and generally overwhelm me
with q sense of my unworthiness. Still,
in spite of there being two sides to every
argument, it is the truth they tell.
What can we know of the lives they led |
those dwellers in the forest primeval? How |
can the college boy of to-day understand
what it was to fell oak timber day after |
day of long, cold winters, and all the time |
think longingly of the schools back in
york State" Many bright young man
gave up dream of Harvard or Yale and
went on new farm In Michigan, there to |
spend the best years of his life making the
Agricultural College and the University
possible for other young men. And we
should evince greater appreciation of the
sacrifices of these men. And the pioneer
mothers. We ought to reverence them,
for the light of their tallow dips Is Shining
brightly down the years and the good they
have done lives after them. The hand
that, forty years ago, rocked cradle on
the Western frontier, is to day plainly visi-
BILE in Congress and our Legislatures. The
mother of Garfield only represents type
to which hundreds of Mchigan's pioneer
women belonged.
Perhaps the hardships OF new settlers
appear more appalling to us than they
really were. Perhaps we over-estifhate the